Raspberry QLC+ controlled by a Line6 Helix
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:07 pm
Hey everyone,
I'm playing in a small band that has been without light for some time. We are playing a lot of Post-Rock things, so everything is pretty much ambient-y and can sometimes be very slow. On some occasions however we also like to let everything escalate. In both cases static light can be either too boring - or the song passages could need some light things going on.
However, some of our songs are more of the Jam-Session type (usually the encore and one song in the middle of the set). That makes everything quite difficult if one doesn't have a light technician.
So I decided to find a compromise. My Line6 Helix Guitar Board (one like these) can send MIDI PC and CC messages, as well as Keyboard Shortcuts (so yes, it can play DOOM).
... so why not send Keyboard Shortcuts to a Raspberry Pi running QLC+?
So I donated and got the Raspberry image (and that incredibly fast!). Loading the OS on the SD card was a breeze and Helix and the Enttec OpenDMX were both recognized as Keyboard Input and USB DMX-Device respectively without any trouble.
As suggested somewhere else in this board I just placed buttons in a Solo-Box to activate chasers. Then I coupled these buttons to keyboard shortcuts. Now I have up to 8 'scenes' on my Helix (called snapshots there), for let's say 'verse 1'. 'verse 2'. 'intro', etc. I just hit the effect board and the raspberry plugs the lights. It works wonderfully!
... except I did not backup my autostart.qwc, so the file was lost because I ran the raspberry headless and the file got currupted during 'de-plug the power from the raspberry'. So I will have to implement a shutdown button somehow. D: But that one's on me.
For our small band I am only using two Cameo 7x3 LED PARs and a weird Renkforce DL-LED107S (I also created fixture files, I still have to upload them in the forum).
The transport box in 'operate mode':
And in 'transport mode'.
I wanted to implement a 4-plug adaptor, so the light's daisy-chain power would also come from the box. However I could only find 3x or 5x adaptors for power and the 5x is definitely too large for this setup. The long device in front is sampler to playback the show's intro sample (which is necessary as the rasperry's line-out is usually crap and I can control a lot of different stuff on the sampler) and other FX sounds.
I wanted to place the cables 1) out of sight, and 2) in a way that any pulling force would be distributed to the whole box instead of any outlet. So I placed the USB cables, power cable and so on under the pyramid foam. Now the only connections dangling around are the power line for sampler+rasperry and the 5-pin MIDI (for the sampler) and the USB (for the Helix input). Everything else is hidden. And I could place the OpenDMX in a way that one can easily plug in the DMX cable to the first light.
So far I am very happy with the outcome. It would be even better if all the power would go into a 4-way plug adaptor. But also the power plugs from the Raspberry and the sampler are just oversized. Maybe I can find smaller ones
Anyways, here is a quick unlisted video how I test the buttons on the helix:
And of course at the end: Thanks to Massimo and everyone involved for that cool piece of software, providing the RPi image and the whole project.
I'm playing in a small band that has been without light for some time. We are playing a lot of Post-Rock things, so everything is pretty much ambient-y and can sometimes be very slow. On some occasions however we also like to let everything escalate. In both cases static light can be either too boring - or the song passages could need some light things going on.
However, some of our songs are more of the Jam-Session type (usually the encore and one song in the middle of the set). That makes everything quite difficult if one doesn't have a light technician.
So I decided to find a compromise. My Line6 Helix Guitar Board (one like these) can send MIDI PC and CC messages, as well as Keyboard Shortcuts (so yes, it can play DOOM).
... so why not send Keyboard Shortcuts to a Raspberry Pi running QLC+?
So I donated and got the Raspberry image (and that incredibly fast!). Loading the OS on the SD card was a breeze and Helix and the Enttec OpenDMX were both recognized as Keyboard Input and USB DMX-Device respectively without any trouble.
As suggested somewhere else in this board I just placed buttons in a Solo-Box to activate chasers. Then I coupled these buttons to keyboard shortcuts. Now I have up to 8 'scenes' on my Helix (called snapshots there), for let's say 'verse 1'. 'verse 2'. 'intro', etc. I just hit the effect board and the raspberry plugs the lights. It works wonderfully!
... except I did not backup my autostart.qwc, so the file was lost because I ran the raspberry headless and the file got currupted during 'de-plug the power from the raspberry'. So I will have to implement a shutdown button somehow. D: But that one's on me.
For our small band I am only using two Cameo 7x3 LED PARs and a weird Renkforce DL-LED107S (I also created fixture files, I still have to upload them in the forum).
The transport box in 'operate mode':
I wanted to implement a 4-plug adaptor, so the light's daisy-chain power would also come from the box. However I could only find 3x or 5x adaptors for power and the 5x is definitely too large for this setup. The long device in front is sampler to playback the show's intro sample (which is necessary as the rasperry's line-out is usually crap and I can control a lot of different stuff on the sampler) and other FX sounds.
I wanted to place the cables 1) out of sight, and 2) in a way that any pulling force would be distributed to the whole box instead of any outlet. So I placed the USB cables, power cable and so on under the pyramid foam. Now the only connections dangling around are the power line for sampler+rasperry and the 5-pin MIDI (for the sampler) and the USB (for the Helix input). Everything else is hidden. And I could place the OpenDMX in a way that one can easily plug in the DMX cable to the first light.
So far I am very happy with the outcome. It would be even better if all the power would go into a 4-way plug adaptor. But also the power plugs from the Raspberry and the sampler are just oversized. Maybe I can find smaller ones
Anyways, here is a quick unlisted video how I test the buttons on the helix:
And of course at the end: Thanks to Massimo and everyone involved for that cool piece of software, providing the RPi image and the whole project.